SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (March 30, 2011) —The National Shooting Sports Foundation will once again renew its major sponsorship of National Hunting and Fishing Day, the official federal commemoration of hunters, anglers and conservation. NSSF is celebrating its 50th anniversary and has been involved with National Hunting and Fishing Day for 40 years.

NHF Day continues to grow and reach new outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen each year with the continued support of generous sponsors. Through licenses, permits and special taxes, hunters and anglers generate $100,000 every 30 minutes—totaling more than $1.75 billion per year—for fish, wildlife and habitat. No one contributes more for conservation.

NHF Day is set to take place Sept. 24, 2011.

The sponsorship by NSSF supports the Wonders of Wildlife museum—the official home of National Hunting and Fishing Day. The Springfield, Mo., facility oversees educational initiatives to help the American public understand the indelible relationship between hunting, angling, healthy habitat, and wildlife and fisheries conservation.

Each year National Hunting and Fishing Day chooses an honorary chairperson, and this year T. Boone Pickens is serving in that capacity and will deliver the message of NHF Day.

Pickens is one of America’s most prominent and influential businesspersons. He is a top authority on world energy issues, president and CEO of the investment firm BP Capital Management and founder of Mesa Petroleum. He is quoted often in the media and has testified many times before Congress.

A strong advocate for alternative energy in the United States, his renowned “Pickens Plan” is designed to decrease dependency on foreign oil while harnessing domestic energy alternatives such as wind power. He is the author of “The First Billion is the Hardest” and “Boone Pickens: The Luckiest Guy in the World.” Pickens also is a noted philanthropist, his gifts to charitable causes exceeding $700 million.

“Sportsmen do the most for wildlife conservation. That message is at the heart of National Hunting and Fishing Day as much today as it was forty years ago,” said Steve Sanetti, president and CEO of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry. “We must constantly remind all sportsmen and the public of this extraordinary support, a task NHF Day accomplishes each year better than any other single program.”

“The National Shooting Sports Foundation is a great partner,” said Misty Mitchell, director of Wonders of Wildlife. “It is through NSSF’s sponsorship that National Hunting and Fishing day will continue to grow and reach the future generations of hunters and fishermen.”

In 1972, Congress formalized NHF Day to remind the public that conservation depends on funding and leadership from hunters and anglers. Every president from Richard Nixon through Barack Obama has issued official proclamations of support for the annual commemoration, now recognized as one of the most effective grassroots campaigns ever undertaken to promote traditional outdoor sports.